


The Angel From My Nightmare

by skepticseptic



Series: Music Inspired Fics [2]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Ryan sprouting wings for no apparent reason other than cause the writer said so, Wingfic, a dash of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-06 18:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12216462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skepticseptic/pseuds/skepticseptic
Summary: Shane picked up his ringing phone at 1:37 A.M. Ryan had only just begun to speak when he knew something was wrong.By 1:40, he was on his way.





	1. Wings

**Author's Note:**

> ...I'm starting to sense a trend with these fic titles...
> 
> Inspired by Blink-182's "I Miss You"

                It was some ungodly hour of the morning and his phone was ringing. Why was his phone ringing? He groaned, sound muffled by his pillow, hoping whoever it was would just go away and let him go back to sleep. Finally, the call went to his voicemail and he happily snuggled back into his blankets, already drifting back to sleep. That is, until it started again. At this point, he just accepted his fate of not sleeping and reached blindly towards his nightstand for his phone. The light of the screen was bright on his tired eyes, but he could blurrily make out that it was Ryan calling him. He woke up a bit more at that realization; Ryan didn’t usually call him, much less in the middle of the night.

                Shane answered the call and knew something was wrong even before Ryan began to speak. He could hear labored breathing on the other side of the line mixed in with whimpers and groans of pain. As Ryan began to speak, he was already hastily putting on clothing and beelining for his front door.

                “Shane, I- I don’t know what’s happening but it really hu-” Ryan’s voice cut out into what was almost a sob. “It really hurts and I’m not sure what to do can you please come over.” The last part of his words came out in a pained rush.

                “I’m already on my way, just hold on, I’ll be there soon.” Shane answered, panic beginning to set in slightly. He had no intention on following the speed limit right now, so it was a good thing it was the middle of the night and practically no one was out and about.

                “Hurry.” His phone clicked, making him aware that Ryan had hung up. All he could focus on was his internal mantra of ‘ _shit shit shit shit’_ as he drove, and before he knew it, he was pulling up to Ryan’s apartment. He quickly turned off his car and locked it, rushing to Ryan’s door. He had been given a key quite some time ago for this exact reason, and it unfortunately was coming in handy right now. He unlocked Ryan’s front door, and as it swung open, his blood ran cold.

                He warily stepped inside, staring at the blood spots littering the carpet in a trail towards the bathroom at the end of the hall. Light spilled from the slightly ajar door, and faint sounds of groaning made their way down the hallway. Shane grabbed the bat that Ryan kept by the door and cautiously continued into the apartment, occasionally glancing around and making sure no one else was there.

                He made his way down the hall slowly, warily staring at each closed door that he passed, wondering if someone was hiding behind it. He approached the bathroom door and gently nudged it the rest of the way open.

                Ryan was sitting on the tiled floor of the bathroom, back to the door and forehead leaned against the edge of the tub. His shirt had been discarded across the small room with two patches of bloodstains marking the back of it. Dragging his eyes away from the shirt and back towards Ryan, Shane noticed with horror two bony protrusions slowly growing out of Ryan’s back close to his shoulder blades. They were already easily over a foot long, but it looked like they weren’t anywhere close to stopping yet.

                Shane swallowed around the lump that had formed in his throat, unable to tear his eyes away from the growing bones. “Ryan?” he whispered quietly. All he got in response was a slightly louder groan and a small shift of movement.

                Eventually, Ryan picked his head up from the edge of the tub and twisted just enough so that he could look at Shane. Tear tracks ran down his cheeks and a grimace was permanently etched onto his face, occasionally shifting slightly as the pain grew more intense. He made a noise equivalent to ‘ _come here_ ’ and Shane moved closer to him; he sat on the floor next to Ryan, legs sprawled across the floor and leaning against the wall behind him.

                Shane reached out a hand, wanting to comfort his best friend, but he paused halfway to Ryan’s shoulder. Would touching him put him in even more pain? He wasn’t too keen on finding out that answer, so he let his hand drop down to the floor between them. Ryan could see the trepidation and concern on Shane’s face, as well as his aborted attempt at comfort. Slowly and painfully, Ryan moved away from the support of the tub and shifted towards Shane instead.

                Shane watched as Ryan scooted his way towards him. When he had gotten as close as Shane’s legs would allow, he tipped forward, his head landing hard against his collarbone. Shane winced, but didn’t pay it much mind. He brought his hands up to the smaller man’s hair, beginning to stroke it in a hopefully comforting manner. He hated seeing Ryan in so much pain, especially when it was something that he couldn’t do anything about.

                He watched as the bony protrusions grew steadily from Ryan’s back; he could tell when the pain got worse because he could feel Ryan grip his shirt tighter and the tears spill faster onto his shirt. This continued for several hours, and by the time the growth seemed to finally stop, the sun was already well into the sky. Ryan had fallen into a fitful sleep towards the end, resting quietly against Shane’s shoulder. Shane observed Ryan’s newly grown appendages and noticed that they looked suspiciously like unfeathered bird wings. He moved his hands down to Ryan’s back, rubbing it slowly as the man slept. Interestingly enough, it felt like the muscle structure in that area had also changed. He wondered if, given his guess was correct, Ryan would grow feathers and maybe eventually be able to fly.

                With that thought, he finally succumbed to sleep. He rested his head against the top of Ryan’s, and let the darkness behind his eyelids take him away for the time being.


	2. Feathers

                Ryan woke to the sound of birds chirping outside and an unidentifiable feeling of _wrongness_. He slowly opened his eyes as sleep released its hold on his body, starting slightly at the fact that he had been sleeping on someone; he soon remembered that that someone was Shane.  Ryan picked his head up from Shane’s shoulder, wincing as the muscles in his neck protested to the movement. He sat there quietly for a minute, looking at Shane as the morning light filtered in through the blinds that covered the window. His head was lolled against his own shoulder, hair totally mussed up after the stress of the night before, the remnants of tear tracks still decorating his face. Ryan could feel his arms still wrapped around him from the night previous, and the thought of it made a smile break out across his face.

                He reached out and took Shane’s sleeping face into his hands, brushing his thumbs across the other man’s cheeks, tracing tracks of almost non-existent freckles. He didn’t notice at first when Shane opened his eyes, watching Ryan keenly and curiously. When Ryan finally looked up at Shane again, he immediately began to back away, blush spreading across his features at being caught in his affection. However, he had only managed to move about a foot backwards before he suddenly stopped, posture changing from embarrassed to stiff within seconds. With wide eyes, he slowly twisted to where he could see part of his back and just about fainted. Where perfectly unmarred skin had once been, now grew two appendages of considerable length folded against his back. He twisted back around quickly, now lifting his arm and prodding at new muscles across his chest that weren’t there just two days ago.

                At every new change discovered, his internal panic ramped up even more, almost hitting the tipping point. Shane must have noticed, as he pulled Ryan back into a hug and started comforting him almost immediately. He left himself be held as Shane played with his hair, telling him everything would be okay. And he actually believed him. That was one of the best things about being around Shane, no matter what happened, he was always there for Ryan and he knew exactly how to bring him down from a panic attack.

                After a few minutes of this, he pulled back from the hug, calmer but still just as confused. What were these weird muscles that were now across his chest and back? Why did he have what looked like wings growing from his back too? _And why were they so itchy????_ He shifted in discomfort as the itchiness grew in intensity, the sensation covering the entirety of the new appendages that adorned his back. Shane shot him a weird look at all of the squirming, not really understanding the new torture that was now happening.

                “It fucking itches so much, oh my god.” A look of understanding crosses Shane’s face at his words. He scrambled up from his spot on the floor, quickly going to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom in search of… something? He wasn’t quite sure what Shane was looking for to be honest, but he was more focused on not scratching at the moment. He heard Shane make a triumphant noise and looked up, seeing Shane victoriously holding a thing of anti-itch cream he apparently had stashed away somewhere.

                “I have no idea what magical place you just pulled that out from, but _thank Christ_.” Shane came back over to him, this time sitting behind him. He heard the click of the tube being opened behind him, and the sound of Shane spreading the cream over his hands.

                “Are you able to move them at all? It might make this a bit easier to do, but if not we’ll figure it out.” Shane made a good point. He hadn’t tried to move the new appendages… wings? He guessed they were probably wings of some sort, he should start referring to them as such. Maybe the weird muscles had something to do with that? He tried flexing the ones on his right side, the new movement totally unfamiliar to him. He felt the wing twitch slightly with his efforts; it was something, but not quite what he needed to happen. Putting a bit more concentration to it, he flexed the new muscles again, this time able to unfold most of the wing out and hold it for a short amount of time.

                Shane began applying the cream to the weird looking wings and instantly the itchiness went down to a more bearable level. Ryan groaned in relief as the sensation dissipated with each pass of Shane’s hands.

                “Okay, I’m done with this side, let’s do the other one, shall we?” Ryan slowly let the muscles relax, the wing drawing back into a resting position. He then flexed the left side, repeating the process. Shane gave him a noise of completion, and he let those muscles go as well. Even though he was done putting the cream on Ryan’s wings, he still sat behind him, his hands gently pressing against his back in an impromptu massage.

                “So, I think I figured out what’s causing the itching.” Shane began as he pressed his palm against a particularly knotted spot on Ryan’s back. “It looks like you have feathers and stuff coming in.”

                “Wait, what? I’m gonna have feathers too? Jesus Christ, I might as well go live in the tree outside, what the fuck.”

                “As funny as that image is in my brain, I don’t think you’re gonna be needing a human sized bird house any time soon. Wait, wouldn’t that just be a tree house then?”

                Ryan laughed in response, “I guess it would, huh. Puts a whole new perspective on that doesn’t it.”

                The conversation dwindled off into a companionable silence, Shane still massaging his back but mostly just tracing his fingers across the skin. Ryan got lost in his thoughts as he enjoyed this scenario, wondering what his feathers would look like, how wings would interact with his life, things like that. With a sudden realization, he broke the silence.

                “Fuck, I’m gonna have to cut holes in most of my shirts and jackets.” Shane wheezed in response, putting his forehead against Ryan’s shoulder as he laughed at his sudden predicament.

                He wasn’t sure how this whole wing thing was gonna work out, but he was glad he had Shane along with him. He wouldn’t have it any other way.


	3. Nesting

                Ever since the whole random wing growing thing happened, Shane had been with Ryan, trying to help make the transition into living with wings easier. At this point, he might as well have been living at Ryan’s apartment with how often he was there. Unfortunately though, that also meant dealing with all the new challenges that wings on a human brings, specifically speaking, wings on Ryan of all people. He couldn’t count the amount of times he’d been accidentally whapped upside the head with a stray wing, or had to pick feathers out of things, or had to rescue his clothing from Ryan’s new obsession with nests.

                It came with its good parts too. Not only did Ryan have feathers adorning his wings, but there were a few mixed in with his hair, and it made him somehow even _more_ adorable, a feat Shane previously thought impossible to achieve. Ryan’s nesting obsession was also kind of cute; he’d amass a pile of blankets and clothing (some of it Shane’s) on his bed and just bury himself in it, content to stay in his pile for hours on end.

                Basically, the addition of wings to Ryan did not help Shane’s crush any; if anything, it made it even stronger than it was before.

                He kept thinking back to the morning after the wings grew in, when Ryan was studying his face while he thought Shane was asleep. Shane wondered if it meant anything, if maybe Ryan had similar feelings. This train of thought quickly crashed and burned as Ryan bounded into the living room, obviously excited about something.

                “Dude, we should totally have a movie night! Some new horror movie released on Netflix and we gotta watch it.”

                “As long as you don’t fall asleep again, sure. I’ll get the snacks together if you set it up.”

                With a nod in response from Ryan, Shane got up from his spot on the couch, and walked into the kitchen. He decided that popcorn was probably the easiest thing to make snack-wise, and it was less of a cleanup if the bowl wound up being knocked over at any point, so he retrieved a pack from the pantry and stuck it in the microwave. As Shane waited for the popcorn to be done, he could hear loud rustling coming from the living room. Curious, he walked back over to the doorway to find that Ryan was making a nest in the middle of his living room. He had moved the coffee table off to one side to have a larger area for it, and it looked pretty comfy.

                The beeping of the microwave took his attention away from the scene, bringing it back to taking care of the snacks. He grabbed a bowl from the cabinet, dumping the bag of popcorn into the bowl. Eating the few pieces that escaped onto the counter, Shane brought the bowl out into the living room, setting it on the now displaced coffee table. Ryan was already snuggled down in the nest, an empty spot next to him clearly indicative of where he was supposed to go in the mess of blankets and clothes.

                Once he got comfortable, Ryan started up the movie. It didn’t take long for the first major scare to come along, and it got Ryan _good_. It startled him so much that it made the feathers in his hair puff up along with his wings, and it was hilarious.

                As the movie went on, Shane felt himself beginning to fall asleep, head bobbing every few seconds. Eventually, he finally succumbed to sleep, Ryan following him not long afterwards.

* * *

 

                Shane slowly woke up, enjoying the dark warmth provided by the large wing covering him. After a few minutes of just enjoying the proximity of Ryan, he decided it would probably be better to sleep somewhere besides the floor.

                “Ryan.”

                “Hmmm?”

                “Ryyaaaaan.”

                More grumbling.

                “Ryan!”

                “Whadya want? ‘M tryin’ to sleep.”

                “Well, you’re trying to sleep on the floor and no amount of nesting is going to make this a good idea by the time it’s morning. C’mon, let’s get you to bed.”

                All he got in response was a deep sigh and a quiet “fine” before the wing moved, allowing him to get up from his spot in the impromptu nest. Shane got up with a groan, back already aching from their quick nap on the floor. As he began to collect the blankets and clothing from the nest, Ryan also got up, too tired to really do much of anything. He slowly slumped his way to his room, the tips of his wings slightly dragging across the floor as keeping them all the way up was too much effort at that point. Shane followed after him not long after, bringing the pile of stuff with him and unceremoniously dropping it all on top of the bed.

                Ryan groggily began to rearranging the items in the pile around himself, leaving an empty spot on his left side. As Shane went to leave the room, ready to sleep on the couch again, a surprisingly quick hand reached out and grabbed his wrist, gently tugging him back towards the bed.

                “Stay? Please?” Ryan asked quietly, uncertainty racing across his face. There wasn’t a way in heaven or hell that Shane could deny him right now, and he was soon snuggled in the pile right along with Ryan.

                Shane watched as Ryan quickly nodded off again, and with a soft smile, pressed a gentle kiss to Ryan’s forehead. He was sure they would probably talk about this in the morning, and he found himself to be okay with that thought, if it meant he got to wake up to Ryan’s adorable and feathered self. A wing once again moved to cover him, almost like a protective wall against the world. As Shane started to drift off too, he thought he heard Ryan mumble a quiet and severely sleep addled “love you,” and that filled his heart with more happiness than he’d ever like to admit. Things were starting to look up for him, and Shane was excited to see where this would lead. He soon fell asleep, cuddled up against Ryan in his lovely little nest.

 

                Everything would work out just fine, he knew it would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter for TAFMN! I may revisit this AU in the future, but I have something special in the works :)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> Thank you for reading my fic! It'd mean a lot if you would leave a kudo or a comment (especially if you find any spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors)
> 
> My tumblr is here if you'd like to send me prompts or songs to consider :)
> 
> Cheers!  
> -Lee


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